Wednesday poem: Melting pot

By anonymous Sacred Heart student

Melting pot 
Utter and complete unity 
Not one person or culture
Discernible from the next
A Melting Pot
Describes a country
Where there are no differences
No unique thought
Or being

I only went to school with white people
So that was all that I knew
So life seemed to be a melting pot
And I melted in

I developed what is called
A “white voice”
But I still don’t understand what that means

My mom had to constantly remind me that
I was not white
Which I knew
But I also didn’t really know anything else

But I’ve come to realize
That a Melting Pot is 
Far from the truth

My mom described America to me as a 
Food Platter
Each food in its own separate area
Blocked off from the others
Don’t mix or mingle
It’s not that they can’t 
Just that they don’t
Each culture tends to keep to themselves
Either because they chose it
Or because they are being kept away from the others
The only thing we have in common
Is that we exist in the same country

One summer
My mom enrolled me in Boys and Girls Club
The black kids hung out with the black kids
The white kids, though there weren’t many
Stayed with the white kids

One summer
I saw my uncle’s engagement torn apart
Because his fiancée’s parents
Didn’t approve of her marrying a black man

Every summer
I see my cousins being ignored 
Because they were mixed
Their grandparents only cared about their white older brother

A food platter is not far from the truth

I’ve heard America described as a 
Salad
We all exist in the same bowl
And we are all different 
But our differences complement each other
Together
We create something great

Music has no bounds
No barriers
I went to a Maroon 5 concert
And there were people of all sorts coming together 
Just to listen to music

There are all kinds of musicians out there 
And they’re all beautiful

I have trouble picking out the truth 
From all of these definitions

But I hope that someday 
America will be
A Salad